Trigg County High School may soon be faced with a new, more restrictive policy regarding school-sponsored events such as prom.

The issue was briefly discussed at the end of last Thursday’s regular meeting of the site-based decision-making council. Neal Cummins, the school’s new principal, said that Assistant Principal Doug Gloyd had told him that he thought the school needed some kind of policy related to guests at school dances because of some awkward situations at May’s prom and to avoid some potential problems in the future.

Cummins said that Gloyd told him he felt strange about having guests at prom over whom he could not exercise any sort of administrative control. Gloyd told him that several of the girls had dates who were soldiers stationed at Fort Campbell and went out to their cars at various points during the evening to smoke. Since some of these people seemed so much older than the high school students, Gloyd was unsure about where his boundaries were and what he could actually prohibit them from doing. Cummins said Gloyd thought a clear policy about guests at school functions who are not students was needed to help administrators and teachers keep things under control.

Members of the new council, which took control at the beginning of July, said they understood Gloyd’s concern, saying they had noticed students with dates unusual for events like prom. Parent representative JoAlyce Harper said she was sure she had noticed that someone’s date was a woman who she suspected of being in her early to mid-twenties and who had two children. Teacher representative J.R. Cunningham said that while opening the doors of limousines and escorting students he encountered one guest who had a full beard. Cummins said that Matt Ladd, who was interim principal at the time, had told him he was the only school administrator present and he had also felt uncomfortable when guests went out to their cars, but didn’t know what to do.

The council talked about possibilities for a future policy. They agreed that barring all non-students wouldn’t be fair, saying that students from other schools should still be allowed to come if invited. They also said that it wouldn’t be fair to only allow students of high school age to come, since many students might have boyfriends or girlfriends who had recently graduated. Teacher representative Lori Wooton said she wondered if it might be a good idea to adopt a policy that would require students to get approval for their dates from school administrators if their date is not a student at Trigg County. Harper suggested the possibility of limiting prom and other similar functions to those under 21 in order to reduce the possibility of guests providing their dates with alcohol.